Around the nation, world

Winter weather keeps blasting across south
ATLANTA — A winter storm made its way across the Southeast on Thursday, dumping snow in states recovering from days of rain, playing a role in at least one fatality, and leaving thousands without power. Early Thursday, parts of Mississippi saw 2 to 4 inches of snow on the ground. In Lowndes County. Johnnie A. Matthews, 64, of West Point died when his car collided with a downed tree about 5 a.m. on Mississippi Highway 50.

In Roanoke, Va., heavy snow was falling as residents prepared for the first significant storm of the season. Thousands of customers in the southwestern part of the state were without power. Appalachian Power said the heavy, wet snow contributed to outages to at least 45,000 customers.

The National Weather Service said a foot of snow was possible in the highest elevations of southeastern Virginia.

Bombs in Iraq kill 26, mostly Shiite pilgrims
BAGHDAD — Insurgents unleashed a string of bomb attacks mainly targeting Shiite Muslim pilgrims across Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 26 people and extending a deadly wave of bloodshed into a second day.

The violence that left nearly 60 dead since Wednesday morning followed nearly two weeks of relative calm and threatened to fuel rising tensions among Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian groups. Shiite pilgrims are a favorite target for Sunni insurgents who seek to undermine the country’s Shiite-led government and provoke sectarian fighting.

The worst attack was near Dujail, 50 miles north of Baghdad, where a pair of car bombs exploded near pilgrims who were walking to a shrine in the town of Samarra.

Man who backed terror group gets 14 years
CHICAGO — A Chicago businessman was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday for providing material support to overseas terrorism, including a Pakistani group whose 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, left more than 160 people dead.

Tahawwur Rana did not address the court before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber imposed the sentence and did not react afterward. But his defense attorneys said the judge was right to reject prosecutors’ arguments that Rana deserved a stiffer sentence because the charges were related to terrorism. They plan an appeal.

US recognizes 1st Somali government in 2 decades
WASHINGTON — The U.S. has recognized Somalia’s government for the first time in more than two decades.

Calling it a milestone in the country’s fight against Islamist extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the announcement Thursday alongside Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. President Barack Obama later met privately with the Somali leader at the White House.

The U.S. hadn’t recognized a Somali government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. American intervention failed two years later after militants shot down two U.S. helicopters and killed 18 American servicemen.

Clinton said times have changed, citing the militant group al-Shabab’s retreat from every major Somali city.